


Son

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Madam Secretary
Genre: Crack, Fun, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29181885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: Even when Blake gets lucky, he's not lucky.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 14





	Son

Three blocks from the hotel, Blake found the bar he was looking for. The senior staff were in San Diego for a conference and it was his evening off. As he often did, he’d found a bar just far enough away from where all the various diplomats and their entourages were staying to get a bit of peace. He didn’t usually have to go far, the foreign contingents either stuck to the amenities offered in the hotels or utilized upscale restaurants where patrons were strictly limited.

Pushing the door open, Blake headed straight for the bar and took a seat, perusing the scotch options while he waited for the bartender to amble his way. He made it through the first tumbler and was working on his second when a man roughly his age, dressed in an off-the-rack suit, sat beside him. He gave him a nod in greeting, letting his eyes linger on the way his dark hair rippled in waves, even cut as short as it was, and the chiseled line of his jaw under the small bit of growth. It was more than a five-o’clock shadow, but less than a proper beard. A yuppie beard.

“Long day?” The stranger spoke, his voice a comfortable baritone.

Blake looked at him over his shoulder, not missing the way dark brown eyes held their gaze on him. “Aren’t they all?” He let the smile slowly form on his face. If the stranger wanted to flirt, who was he to complain?

Stranger snickered. “Lately, yes… And what is it you do on your long days?”

“I work in finance.” It was an easy lie because, like all the best lies, it was grounded in some truth. He could talk finance and sound like he belonged all while protecting his real job and avoiding the social nightmares that occasionally came along with it. “Normally East Coast, just here for a few days. You?”

“Just moved here… about five months ago now.” He sipped his own drink. “I’m not anything as highbrow as you, just a lowly musician.”

Blake’s face lit up. “What do you play?”

Stranger shrugged. “A bit of a lot of things. Bass, guitar, piano. The usual.”

“Sing?”

“Of course!” Stranger laughed. “You play?”

“Piano and sing. It’s my… I guess you could say it’s my alter ego?” He smirked. “Kind of ‘don’t quit your day job’, ya know? Some days I dream of packing it all in and hitting the open road with nothing more than a songbook and my wits.”

“I get that.”

They both lapsed into silence, working their way through their respective drinks. Once both glasses were empty, Blake turned on his stool. “Have plans for tonight?”

“Not really, no.”

“My hotel is only a few blocks away. We could go back and see if we have similar musical tastes?”

With a nod, the stranger placed cash on the bar before he stood, offering his hand. “I’m Roman.”

“Blake.”

=

The walk back had been quick enough, at the late hour there was significantly less foot traffic on the sidewalks and fewer cars on the road. Up the elevator, Blake leaned casually against one wall, letting his eyes wander over Roman hungrily, not caring that Roman was doing much the same.

When the doors slid open, Blake stepped off first, nodding to the agents in the hall without a word. He knew they wouldn’t hassle him or any guest of his. They were very protective of the floor, but also respected his privacy as well.

They were halfway down the hall before Roman gathered himself to ask. “Who’re they?”

Blake shrugged. “Nobody important.” He slipped the key card into the lock and pulled it out at the beep. “Shall we?”

Once the door was closed, he shed his jacket and dug around for the tumblers provided and a bottle of wine he had sitting to the side while Roman looked around the room. It was one of the bigger rooms on the floor. Elizabeth had the big suite further down that had multiple bedrooms, it was where they met for meetings, and Nadine had the next smaller one, a two room suite so she had her own sitting area. His own junior suite, the third largest, was one giant room with a sizable sitting area.

“This is nice. Finance must pay well.”

“I don’t do too badly.” He handed a glass to him. “A toast. To making friends wherever we go.”

=

Stepping out of her room, Nadine tugged a shawl around her shoulders. The hotel was chilly and it was still barely morning, so she wasn’t fully put together, but she hardly cared. There was a good chance she was about to be greeted by Blake in his pajamas anyway, jeans and a sleeveless top would be miles more dressed than him.

Counting the doors, she rapped on the right one and then waited, listening for sounds of him moving around inside. “Good morning, Blake! It’s me, I need you to check an email for me.” She raised her voice, leaning closer to the paneled door. “Come on, up you get!”

Inside the room, both men shifted in the sheets, waking slowly. Roman nudged Blake’s shoulder. “Someone’s at your door.”

“What?” He squinted and then heard Nadine’s voice again. “Oh, work. Hold on, I’ll be right back.” Crawling out of the bed, he fumbled around in search of lounge pants, yanking them on.

“You answer the door for work dressed like that?” He sounded sleepily curious and perhaps a bit amused. “Should I be jealous?”

Blake laughed. “Hardly. She’s the mother I always wanted, nothing more.” He pulled the door open just enough to look down at her, a grin still on his face. “Yes, Mom?”

The surprise of his greeting threw her a second before she snickered. “If you were my son, you’d have enough respect to put a shirt on.”

“I was busy.”

Teasing interest filled her face. “Doing?”

“No one. I mean, nothing!”

She laughed. “Can you see if we received an email from the primary aide for the Cambodian minister? I don’t have anything in my box.” She huffed. “Hopefully they sent it to you by mistake. Otherwise, I’ll have to go incite an international incident before breakfast.”

“I’ll- I’ll look. Hold on.” He turned away but when she started to follow, he grabbed the door. “Yeah… you’re going to have to wait in the hall…” He blushed.

Nadine shook her head. “Don’t want Mom to see who you snuck in?”

“Something like that.” He flipped the emergency lock so the door didn’t latch and rushed back to his laptop.

“That didn’t sound like finance stuff.” Roman mumbled from the bed. Yawning, he bunched the pillows up and tried to drag himself the rest of the way from slumber. “Cover story?”

“I- I used to work in finance… Now I work in government. I- I can’t really discuss much of what I do, but I work for the Department of State.”

Roman rolled to his side. “Interesting. I know someone who works there.”

“So do thirty-five thousand other people.” He blocked Roman out as he looked for the email that would keep Nadine from instigating war with Cambodia before he could get a cup or two of coffee in. “I found it!” He called through the crack in the door, forwarding it to her account. “I sent it to you!” He read quickly over the text before returning to the door and pulling it further open. “I read it over, can you please let me have breakfast before we start a war?”

She scoffed at whatever it likely said, allowing herself to rant for a moment, voice raising slightly in annoyance. “I can’t make any promises. This whole thing just has irritated me to no end. They put it off until the final seconds, we’re supposed to be signing this framework today and they’re still dragging their-”

“Mom?!”

Nadine froze, confused at the male voice that was definitely not Blake’s. Her eyes moved from somewhere about Blake’s still bare shoulder to his face. His eyes were wide as he whipped around to face the person behind him. As he moved, another familiar face appeared.

“Mom?” Blake questioned, staring at the way Roman was now standing wrapped in the hotel robe. “What do you mean, ‘mom’?” He whipped back to Nadine, who was quickly shifting from shock and surprise to something else.

“Roman?!” Her eyes jumped between the both of them and she took a step back. “I- How long have you been in the states?!” He mouth opened and closed. “What are you doing-” It was a stupid question, Blake had already made it clear what he’d been doing. “Mon dieu!” She shook her head. “Of all the…”

Realizing this was going to devolve quickly, Blake stepped out and pulled her into his room. “I didn’t know.” He hissed it as a sort of apology before ushering her toward a chair.

“Putain de merde!” She sank into the seat, face in her hands as she tried to process. “Mon fils… et lui?!”

“English?” Blake prompted her as he searched for a shirt. If he was going to get a dressing down he wanted to at least be… dressed.

“Billions of people on this planet and you have to find Roman?”

“I-” He looked to Roman, who didn’t look thrilled. “How was I supposed to know?!”

“Mom-”

“Zatknis seychas! You couldn’t even tell me you’d moved?!” She focused on him now.

Blake’s brows shot up. He had no idea what that was, not French in any case, but clearly Roman knew as his mouth snapped shut so fast his teeth clicked.

“And worse yet, the two of you…” She waved her hand between them, frowning. “Shlyat’sya!” She shoved out of the chair and began to pace, muttering under her breath. “Ikh ken das nisht bahandlen!” She started for the door.

“Wait!” Blake hurried to block her. “I know it’s a lot to take in. I swear I didn’t know.” He waved at Roman. “Neither of us knew. I- I lied about my job, he had no way to know I would know you.”

“Mon fils!” The anger flashed in her eyes until she recognized the hurt in Blake’s. His French was hit or miss, she knew, but clearly he’d understood that. “I’m- I’m sorry.” She drew a breath to try and calm herself before turning back to the pair of them. Blake was the one standing within arm’s reach, the one determined to comfort and smooth things over. Roman looked shell shocked as he stood silent and her own behavior over the past few minutes crashed over her. Her words- she’d bounced between staking a claim on one and then the other and she could see how much it’d hurt them both.

“Mom, I-” Roman shifted in place. “I’ve been living here a few months.”

“And you couldn’t tell me?” The hurt was clear.

“You replaced me?!” He pointed at Blake.

Suddenly, war with Cambodia didn’t sound so bad. Blake stepped between them. He recognized the way Nadine’d squared her shoulders and had a sinking feeling Roman was doing in kind. “Time out. Everyone take a breath.” He eyed them both warily. “Nadine… he and I are consenting adults.”

She licked her lip. “You are like a son to me.”

“…I know. But we’re dumping a whole bunch of different things together here.” He turned to Roman. “You told me last night you only just moved.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Not long ago. I- I wasn’t sure you’d want to hear from me, Mom.”

Blake could see the anger already bleeding out of her as her eyes dropped at her son’s words. “Why wouldn’t I? You’re my son.”

“I know.” Roman took several steps her direction. “I’m sorry.”

“I sorry too. You’re right, both of you. You’re adults and I don’t get a say in your private lives.” When they said thank you in unison, she couldn’t hold back the small smile. “You’re both my sons. I… I was taken by surprise.”

“Could you, uh, please stop saying that? Just for the course of this conversation?” Blake requested. “It makes the past few hours weird.”

Nadine nodded. “I’m going to go back to my room and deal with that email. I’ll talk to each of you later.” They both nodded and she let herself back into the hall.

Alone, Blake turned to Roman. “So…”

Roman was already grabbing his clothes and getting dressed. “I should go.” The room was silent until her was pulling his shoes on. “The guards by the elevator last night…?”

“Uh, diplomatic travel. We get an entire floor for our staff plus they clear the floor one up and down. No one who isn’t staff is allowed on this floor.” He glanced in the direction of the elevator. “Well… Unless one of the senior staff says otherwise.”

“So you are…?”

“Oh.” He cleared his throat and wondered exactly what Roman knew of his mother’s job. “Personal assistant to the Secretary.”

“… Of State?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.” He finished tying his shoes and found his blazer. “So, you work for my mom then.”

“Not really. I- I’m outside that chain of command. Look, she and I are close. My parents aren’t… thrilled, about some of the choices I’ve made. I do know she loves you and worries about you.”

Roman stopped with his hand on the door. “She’s said that?”

Blake nodded.

“Would you… if I gave you my updated information, would you give it to her?”

“Of course.”

“And you can use it too, if you want.”

Blake pulled a face. “I’m sorry. I think it’d be too weird now.”

“I was afraid of that.” He scribbled down his information and handed it to Blake.

“I’ll make sure she calls.”

“Thank you.”

Blake watched as the door opened and Roman vanished. Alone, he flopped back on the bed, wondering why his life could never be boring.


End file.
